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Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat - Book Club July '11

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After a good, long run, we have decided to close our forums in an effort to refocus attention to other sections of the site. Fortunately for you all, we're living in a time where discussion of a favorite topic now has a lot of homes. So we encourage you all to bring your ravenous love for discussion to Chuck's official Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram. And, as always, you can still post comments on all News updates. Thank you for your loyalty and passion over the years. These changes will happen June 1.

The Book Club discussion threads are always accessible - they never go away. And I leave them "stickied" at the top of the page for a full month after the discussion is over. That way - hopefully - I'm encouraging people to track down passed discussions.

hey, it ain't over yet. i'm glad you guys dug floyd and company so much. and i know andrez feels the same way. i miss the flood of emails me and andrez had going back and forth, the thousands of mega-long (and i mean that, they are sick, sick, long) emails that passed between us. it's the oddest feeling -- as anyone who has attempted a multi-year project knows, it can be all consuming. and then, finally, suddenly, it's finished. or, as close to finished as these things get, since i'm sure andrez and i could warble over a few words here and there if we really wanted to. and now there's this huge hole in my life. which is both good and bad. bad, because, as i said, i miss the mind-synch with andrez. good, because now maybe i can focus on my own writing for a bit.

PGoutis01, it's been an absolute pleasure - and I'm sure will continue to be over the next few weeks, tho' I'll be out of range for 2 weeks while I'm in Melbourne from early August, since my family down there don't have internet access.

Probably a blessing in disguise! ;)

I'm positive I'll be hanging round here for some time to come; it's been a great discovery for me to meet you all, and find a place I can really get my teeth into with like-minded souls aplenty.

Kristopher, what can I say?

I too miss the email flood(s) we excelled in over the past three years or so. I swear some of those would qualify for the Guinness Book of Records for their depth and breadth and length.

And there is this weird hole, right? I'm trying to fill it with all the promotion stuff for the novel, but that's a pretty one-sided affair rather than the communal enterprise that was the editing process. I miss logging in and finding the latest epic to go through and ponder. Things seem far too simple and a bit bland now! But you're right - it frees you up to get back into your own writing (finally!) and gives me a breath of air to ponder other directions as well.

Bogie may say "We'll always have Paris", but you and me can instead warble that we'll always have TSMG. Heh-heh.

OK, as hinted at early on in the piece, here's the guff/symbolism about some of the names and addresses that appear in Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat.

I'm not going to run through all of 'em, just some choice cuts I wanted to share. Self-indulgent? I know, I know. More like unnecessary red herrings that I dig, but if you've read the book you may be curious.

For starters, as I mentioned earlier, the two predatory cops who make a cameo appearance outside Floyd's apartment on pg. 57 - Cortez and Daniels - are named in honour of the two stars of the lesser-known 1931 version of The Maltese Falcon.

The drugs Xenathon and Demaratus are also the names of characters from The 300 Spartans (1962).

Here're some more:

APARTMENT NUMBERS & ADDRESSES

The “half-obliterated sign on the door beside me that reads 15 Stiftgasse” (pg. 4):
Harry Lime’s apartment building number in The Third Man.

Floyd’s apartment # 1001:
The room number of Brigid O’Shaugnessy (née-Wonderly) in The Maltese Falcon.

“The storefront has the number 7244 printed on a faded tin sign.” (pg. 87):
Geiger’s place in The Big Sleep (7244 Laverne Terrace, off Laurel Canyon Boulevard) - which also brings me to Laurel's name in the novel.

THE STAR TREK REFERENCES in CHAPTER 'PLUS ONE'

Holberg’s restaurant (pg 128):
Named after remote planet Holberg 917-G in the "Requiem for Methuselah" episode of classic Star Trek in the ‘60s.

O’Herlihy, the maître d’ at Holberg’s, is an obscure homage to one of the many red-shirted extras in the classic ‘60s Star Trek that appeared in one episode only, and usually bought it – in this case Ensign O’Herlihy in the episode ‘Arena’.

The waiter, Kevin Riley, is a reference to Kevin Thomas Riley, the navigator of the Enterprise in the first season of the show in the ‘60s.

The song Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight (pg. 135) was featured in the time-travel Trek episode ‘City on the Edge of Forever’.

NAMES

Coronas del Ritz (pg. 191):
The brand of cigars offered by the Fat Man to Spade in The Maltese Falcon.

The Webley-Fosbery pistol used on Deaps (pg. 206):
The same handgun linked to the killing of Sam Spade's partner Miles Archer in The Maltese Falcon.

The name of Ziggy’s bar - Kemidov’s, revealed on pg. 20:
Also the name of the Russian General in The Maltese Falcon who in fact owned the bird in Istanbul before the Fat Man and Joel Cairo stole it.

Floyd’s friend Ant Hope, the cricketer, takes his name from Anthony Hope, the British novelist and playwright who penned The Prisoner of Zenda – and those who know me personally will understand my great affection for the 1937 film version of same, which stars Ronald Colman and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Floyd’s Seeker Branch area supervisor Marjorie Saunders, aka Marjery Saunders (introduced on pg. 144), was in reality the editor on a swag of classic movies including the film noir I Became a Criminal (1947).

The newly appointed head honcho of MCD, Tom Richards (introduced on pg. 156) is a little nod to Thomas Richards, the editor on the 1941 Hollywood production of The Maltese Falcon. He also did Michael Curtiz’s British Agent (1934).

Richards’ secretary Harriett Marker (pg. 156) refers to Harry Marker, the editor of the George Sanders-starring crime/mystery The Falcon Takes Over (1942) – based on Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely.

The official at Floyd’s first Test at the Department of Education is Ojike Kyoufu (pg. 9) – in Japanese “ojike” roughly translates as fear or dread, while “kyoufu” means to be afraid. Somewhat appropriate, given the Test.

The news reporter Montgomery Berman (pg. 150) is modeled on the Jason King character refined by Peter Wyngarde in the titular British TV series as well as Department S, 1969-71. Both those series were produced by Monty Berman, hence ‘Montgomery Berman’... boom-boom... Department S itself gets a shoo-in on pg. 158, and ITC Entertainment – which made the Jason King series – gets remodeled as the network that both Montgomery and Floyd’s sister Dorothy work for.

Berman’s camera kid Stew Sullivan (pg. 150) takes his name from one of the other star characters of Department S, Stewart Sullivan, played by actor Joel Fabiani, while Berman’s PA Annabelle (pg. 150) harks back to Annabelle Hurst – another star character from the series.

The cricketer Ant refers to, Ray Massey (pg. 105), is a salute to the actor Raymond Massey – the star of sci-fi classic Things to Come (1936), the 1937 version of The Prisoner of Zenda and Frank Capra’s Arsenic and Old Lace (1944); he even popped up in Rod Serling’s Night Gallery and is one of my mum’s favourite actors.

Another cricketer, Miles Mander (pg. 158)? The British character actor who appeared in Murder, My Sweet (1944), the Edward Dmytyck adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely, and in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).

Colman’s name is a hybrid – of both Ronald Colman, the star of the '37 The Prisoner of Zenda, and a good friend of mine back in Australia.

The recurring reference to Siamese vodka is a direct reference to Sean Connery’s obvious distaste for the stuff in the 007 movie You Only Live Twice (1967).

Wilton Parmenter (pg. 69) and Mrs. Agarn (pg. 74) are my little homage to one of my favourite TV comedies from the ‘60s, F Troop – in that series Wilton Parmenter is the hapless commander of the fort, while Corporal Agarn is the rambunctious lackey to Sergeant O’Rourke. The homage was triggered by the yagura tower in the Bon Odori sequence (pg. 67 on), which reminded me of the ever-tumbling watch-tower in F-Troop - but Kris wisely urged me to edit out that obscure reference.

Floyd’s sidekick Harry Jones is a direct nod to the ill-fated character of the same name played by Elisha Cook Jr. in Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep (1946).

EDGAR ALLAN POE RIFFS

The trio of police officers introduced across pgs. 122-23:
Tamerlane is the name of an epic poem by Edgar Allan Poe, Sergeant Dupin is a ref. to Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin (the Poe detective in The Murders in the Rue Morgue), and Canning comes from the ‘ancient book’, The Mad Trist by Sir Launcelot Canning, that the narrator reads from in Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher.

On pg. 125 the shop's name, Nevermore, is a reference to The Raven, while Pluto (also pg. 125) is the name of the feline in The Black Cat.

The Controllers that Fergus ‘Mac’ MacDonell calls to arms on pg 176 also have meaning – Boemler, aka George Boemler, the editor who worked on the 1952 version of The Prisoner of Zenda and The Three Musketeers (1948), as well as noir essential The Ashphalt Jungle (1950); Marschek, aka Archie Marschek, the editor on The Illustrated Man(1969), My Geisha (1962), and noir romp This Gun for Hire (1942); and Clark, aka Al Clark – the editor of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953).

Finally, the 'World Is Yours' balloon that Floyd buys and gives to Colman on pg. 97 is a backhand to Brian De Palma's Scarface (1983).

I’ll leave the other names in the book up to your imagination.

One thing that crops up, as you’ll notice, are the references to film editors – for me the unsung heroes of some absolute classics in cinema.

Having done a lot of editing myself, I have a soft-spot for these people and their role in creating the finished product, thus the obscure nods.

Wow, so we're winding up tomorrow, and in 4 days' time I'll be off to Melbourne for a couple of weeks to do the book launch (appropriately enough) in the location where TSMG takes place.

Thanks yet again for everyone's input and fantastic feedback/ideas here, and as another way in which to say cheers, I put together a little free download pack of music for you guys.

Most of this relates in some way to movies (via samples, etc), and much of it is my Little Nobody stuff, but I've also enclosed a couple of George Sanders numbers off the wunderbar George Sanders Touch LP that rates a significant mention in the novel.

I was making and/or listening to this while writing and editing, and I think there are some tangible correlations to find. Maybe.

;)

Also a lot of this music was released by a record label you may know - even if you don't. I started IF? Records in 1995, and we plastered Melbourne with around 5,000 IF? logo oval stickers across 1995-97. Some of them are still there, which is why they pop up twice in the novel.

Anyway, here's a link to the music download - it will be online for the next 2 weeks or so - and I hope you enjoy the tunes:

Kris & Audrey, you should both definitely get down there at some stage. Melbourne rocks.

...but not quite like Tokyo. Literally. We got hit by a 6.4 tremblor last night - focused in the north-east, but strong enough here in Tokyo to rouse me from my fitful slumber and shake the doors pretty violently. The world moves (again). It needs some rest.

That's another reason I can't wait to get back to Melbourne - stable land! ;)

Super late BUT I started writing this post while it was still July... I want that to be marked in the record.

It's been said but this was a fun read. I like your style, Andrez, it's relatively laid back and that made all the references perfectly okay because there wasn't really a drop of pretentiousness in this entire book. GOSH mind's blank right now and I don't have much else to add but this thread is awesome. I love knowing all these bits of background knowledge now. I'm not at all a movie buff but I've certainly added a few movies to my list.

This:

Andrez666 wrote:

Is cool.

Best of luck at your launch. And I said this when you first showed up but I dig your music as well. Hope you take pictures and let us know it goes later this week!

Nice little blog post Andrez. Sounds like it was a blast. I would have loved to have been there. And what a great coincidence that it rained. Hope you wore your trench and drank some siamese vodka to keep warm.

I stuck the pics up from the book launch, plus some other Melbourne bits and pieces (some of which you may remember from the novel) up on my Facebook today. It's an open-access album so you should be able to take a peek even if we haven't "connected" prop'ly:TSMG/Melbourne happy-snaps

Just a quick update - I'm currently buried up to my unprotected neck in the next novel, which I started at the beginning of September and am now about 100 pages into (give or take a dozen after proper editing/burning bits that don't work).

Anyway, it's vaguely related to TSMG (about five percent?) and one of the characters from therein acts as the narrator - if you're curious at all, I've set up an update page where I'm leaving nonsensical asides:

One Hundred Years of Vicissitude... I see what you did there and I like it.

Cheers, mate! Still an 'acting' title, but I really do like it. It works with the characters, too, since it focuses on identical twins who live to see 100.

And audreythirteen, as always, ta!! Part of me is trying to spend ALL my free time on this, so I've got to back off sometimes to breathe (and give my family some attention) but I'm happy to be back in the saddle...

Let's not forget there will also soon be an anthology of stories by other authors (inc. Andrez, and yeah, me) and artists inspired by Goat and set within its same universe. It's called The Tobacco-Stained Sky: An Anthology of Post-Apocalyptic Noir.

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